Hannibal

April 4, 2013

After a spring in which every network tore off its face and wore it like a mask, NBC’s best hope to salvage the end of the 2012-2013 season lies in convincing audiences they want to see more of Hannibal Lecter, even after 30-plus years of novels and films. They’ve done a fairly good job of stoking curiosity so far—working with a visually distinctive producer like Bryan Fuller, hiring an intriguing supporting cast—so right on cue, here’s a trailer that showcases none of that. Instead, NBC’s preview goes for a soft sell that makes Hannibal out to be a generic, CBS-grim procedural, one in which a scruffy Hugh Dancy and Laurence Fishburne stare morosely at gruesome murder scenes and punch bulletin boards in frustration, while the show’s ostensible selling point is saved for a quiet reveal at the very end. “I don’t find you that interesting,” Dancy says to Mads Mikkelsen’s Lecter, unconsciously echoing the audience watching this trailer. “You will,” Mikkelsen replies—and not a little overconfidently, for a preview that doesn’t even really get to the cannibal stuff.